


An Unlikely Friend

by DashingLuna



Series: The A-S Duo [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Aayla is Anakins age, Alternate Universe, Anakin gets a friend, And Aayla relates, Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, I have not read legends, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Padawan Aayla Secura, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Room of a Thousand Fountains (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 17:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30092562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashingLuna/pseuds/DashingLuna
Summary: Anakin runs to the Room of a Thousand Fountains after being bullied by Initiates, there he meets a bright blue Twi'lek girl who knows exactly what he's going through.
Relationships: Aayla Secura & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Quinlan Vos
Series: The A-S Duo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2214237
Comments: 7
Kudos: 73





	An Unlikely Friend

**Author's Note:**

> (Just a Reminder, Aayla is Anakin's age, she's around that 9-10 range in age. I know that she isn't ACTUALLY Anakin's age, this is just an Au)

Padawan learner Anakin Skywalker walked quickly, without running, through the massive hallways of the Jedi temple, making himself seem much smaller than he already was. His breathing had finally started to steady, but if any Jedi looked at his face they’d realise Anakin was crying.

An occasional Jedi sometimes walked by him, not giving him anything, not one glance. He pulled the hood down further, his face was already covered but he had to make sure nobody saw. 

Anakin didn’t know where he was going but at the moment all he wanted to do was get away.

 _‘Stupid,’_ Anakin berated himself. Wiping the tears that caught on his eyes, hoping his shielding was good enough to block out the mess of emotions swirling inside. _‘What was I thinking? Obi-wan’s going to be so disappointed,’_

Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin’s _Jedi_ master, had been trying for weeks now to get Anakin a friend. He had been in the temple for a few months, and the people Anakin liked talking to were friends with him only because they were friends with Obi-wan.

It wasn’t Anakin’s fault though! All the other people his age were initiates, and they all _hated_ him.

Wait, no. Jedi weren’t supposed to hate, even ones as young as nine. Correction, the initiates severely disliked Anakin.

He turned a corner, a female Master Anakin didn’t know passed him by. He kept on walking at a brisk pace. His shoes clacked against the hard stone ground and he listened intently as the Master walked, making sure she didn’t stop or slow. Once he was sure that she wasn’t going to check on him, Anakin felt slightly relieved.

The initiates had made it clear they disliked him as soon as there wasn’t an adult watching. He was special, the chosen one, so the initiates thought he must be arrogant and stupid. Anakin had only unknowingly proved them right once they saw he couldn’t read basic, and asked questions that everybody seemed to already know the answers to.

When it had first happened Anakin had yelled and fought for his pride, getting in more trouble than worth. Now, all Anakin did was clench his fists around the fabric of his _Padawan_ robe before rushing to leave.

It wasn’t as if anyone was going to follow him anyway, the Senior Padawan in charge had been too busy to truly focus on the children, and none of the children cared about him anyway.

Anakin opened a random door and went inside, unknowingly going into the Room of a Thousand Fountains. It was still his favourite room, other than his own, of course.

His mood lifted slightly at the mass of green flora and flowing water that surrounded him. Before the temple the largest amount of water he’d seen had been a full kettle, and green as just a colour was a rarity in itself. Now, to see enough water to swim in and green plants to fill a whole room, was something he’d only dreamed of vividly.

The force smiled at him, wrapping around him like the hugs he used to get from his mother every night before bed, or whenever Anakin did something right and Obi-wan gave him a proud smile. Soft, and loving.

Yep, definitely his second favourite room.

Anakin plodded around, in a much better mood and with a much better attitude. He went deeper into the room, looking around everywhere, as no matter how many times he went here, he always came out seeing something new.

This time was no different, as when Anakin looked at one of the trees standing far away from the regular path he saw someone.

A small Twi’lek girl, she was dangling her legs off of one of the branches, staring out at the water below her. She had entirely blue skin, was dressed in initiate clothing and was, obviously, not supposed to be there.

Curiosity and his instincts to keep going fought in his head. Making him pause and think, biting his lip. He continued to think for two more seconds before the urge of curiosity (and a small, gentle shove from the force) won, nudging him towards the girl.

“Hello,” Anakin said as he stopped right below her. His shielding must’ve been getting better as the girl jumped at the sound of his voice, snapping her head down towards him. “What are you doing?”

The girl blushed, probably not expecting to be caught. “I… I was just looking at the water,”

She spoke in an accent Anakin could easily interpret, one that most Twi’leks had. Especially the ones that had spoken Basic with him back on Tatooine.

“Can I join you?” Anakin found himself asking. He didn’t know why, as some part of him still wanted to continue exploring, not liking to stay in one spot, but he found himself climbing up the tree as the small Twi’lek shimmied over to make room for him, patting the spot next to her.

He sat down with a thump, keeping his hands on the back of the tree branch, keeping himself steady. Mirroring the way Aayla was already sitting.

It was a nice view. He was able to see way more things then before now that he was up higher. The tops of the trees and the edge of the drop for the waterfall, one of many but it was the first one Anakin had been at eye level for.

“Are you a Padawan?” The Twi’lek looked at Anakin curiously, interrupting his thoughts.

“Yep,” Anakin showed her his braid, originally woven by Obi-wan months ago, but due to care with his hair he’d had to rebraid it a few times. “It’s still short, so I get why you didn’t see it,” 

“How old _are_ you?” The girl asked in wonder.

“I’m nine! I’ll be ten soon though!” Or maybe he’d be eleven, he was born on a slave ship, he didn’t know exactly how old he was.

“You can become a Padawan before you’re thirteen?” The girl tilted her head.

“Only in special cases,”

Anakin winced to himself, only a few sentences in and already calling himself special. Great. She was probably going to think he was egotistic, and she’d been so nice too...

“I’m sorry,” The girl blurted. “I haven’t introduced myself, I’m Initiate Aayla Secura, it’s nice to meet you…”

“Padawan Anakin Skywalker,”

“I’d bow but-,” Aayla gestured to the branch below them. “-I don’t want to slip,”

They weren’t too high up, not really, if Anakin wanted to he could jump and wouldn’t break a bone. Even then, he had to agree. He didn’t want to slip, so he dangled his legs and nodded his head.

“Why are you up here though?” Anakin asked. “I know the initiates are meant to be in lessons right now, why aren’t you?”

Aayla flushed. “They’re stupid,”

He gaped. 

He knew why _he_ thought the initiate lessons were stupid. But why did she think that, she was already far more polite than he was, and probably far more liked too.

“Some of them think I’m full of myself,” Aayla huffed, explaining to Anakin's still gaping face. “Just because I already have a bond with a knight, and they’re jealous, but Jedi aren’t supposed to be jealous so they say it’s-,”

“-Teaching the prideful to be humble,” Anakin finished, having heard the other initiates say that to him multiple times. “They point out everything you do wrong-like all the time right?”

Aayla nodded excitedly, happy someone understood. “And then whenever you tell them that you're doing it right they call you a show off!”

“Right!” Anakin exclaimed. “You can’t win, so it’s just better to leave,”

“That’s why I’m here,” Aayla gave a final nod before she looked back at the lake. Rocking each leg back and forth, one at a time. “I’m going to wait right here until I’m thirteen, or maybe younger because I’m special like you, and then I’m going to go to Master Vos and officially make him my master,”

“You know Knight Vos?” He had met the man a few times himself, as he was one of Obi-wan's friends.

“Mhm!” Aayla nodded again. “I have a bond with him already,” She grinned toothily, the force leaked out pride through her simple but well managed shields. “I’ve had one since I was two,”

“Wizard! You _must_ be close then!”

“Yep!” Aayla smiled. “He promised that as soon as he could he was going to-,” The Twi’lek accent dropped a bit, replaced with a badly formed impression of Knight Vos. “- _sweep you away and be a master you deserve_ , which he then assured was a good one,”

Anakin chuckled, it was nice to laugh after crying for so long.

“What about your master?” Aayla asked. “You’re a Padawan, what’s your master like?”

“Master Kenobi is totally _wizard_ _,_ ” Anakin said in excitement. “He’s amazing! He’s really smart and brave and patient! Kind too!” He listed. Before turning to Aayla with excitement written all over his face. “Did you know he killed a Sith!”

“Yeah!” Aayla nodded more times than necessary. “He chopped off the Siths head and gifted it to the queen, right? That's what I heard,”

“Close, he chopped the Sith in half, right through the stomach,” Anakin made the noise of a lightsaber and cutting motion similar to what he imagined happened. “He didn’t gift the queen the Sith though, I don’t think Padme would’ve liked it much,”

“You know the _queen of Naboo!_ ”

Anakin brightened at the subject, beginning to excitedly talk about his time with Padme and how nice she was, and how _pretty she looked too_.

Aayla listened with a patience and excitement that Anakin thought Obi-wan was only possibly able to have in the temple.

0-0-0

Knight Obi-wan Kenobi had lost his Padawan. 

Again. 

Luminaria, after finding out that Obi-wan was looking for his Padawan, had steered him in the right direction, saying she’d seen him speed-walking towards the northwestern side of the temple. 

Luckily for him he knew exactly where to find the boy with those instructions.

Though, again, he was reminded there really was no such thing as luck when Quinlan Vos decided to tag along. Trailing behind him like an annoying Loth Cat demanding attention from its owner.

“Don’t you have anywhere else where your presence is needed?” Obi-wan demanded.

“Nope,” Quinlan smirked. “Nowhere else in the slightest,”

“Well go bother Bant then, I have other things I need to take care of,” Obi-wan rounded a corner, getting closer to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The force pulsed from that area, more than usual. Which could only mean a certain runaway Padawan was hiding in there, without his comm.

“Right! Yes! Your Padawan, Skywalker! My newest and best entertainment,” Quinlan seemed proud of himself for some unknown reason. “How is it taking a Padawan?”

Tiring.

He loved Anakin yes, the boy was bright and made Obi-wan smile with radiant pride, but he had no _idea_ how to take care of a child. Obi-wan had only just been knighted before he was given Anakin, and while he wouldn’t trade the boy for the world, he didn’t know what to do and was stumbling through having a Padawan while barely keeping his head above water.

Quinlan must’ve felt Obi-wan’s turmoil of emotions because he grimaced. “You _know_ you can ask for help right?” He then grinned, obviously trying to keep the mood light. “I could look after him for an afternoon! I think he’d look good with a yellow stripe across his face, or maybe green? He likes green right?”

“You will not!” Obi-wan hissed as he opened the door to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, he let out a small sigh as the force basked near him, making him feel as if he was drinking a calm set of tea without a care in the world.

He snapped out of it faster than he would have liked, he had a Padawan to find after all.

“So why is your Padawan in here by himself?” Vos asked, keeping up with Obi-wan’s pace. “Did you assign some extra meditation?”

“No,” Was all Obi-wan said. He was not in the mood to talk about another bullying session that he hadn’t been able to stop. He just wanted his Padawan to actually have companions of his own, not to be needlessly teased.

Obi-wan had left his Padawan in the care of the current Senior Padawan on crèche duty, who had seemingly not seen anything wrong when Anakin had run out of the room with highly raised shields and swift words to cover the quiver in his voice.

They had obviously been on the verge of passing out, and had apologised to Obi-wan profusely, but that didn’t change the fact that his Padawan had still suffered.

“Some time to himself, then,” Quinlan nodded. “We all need that once in a while,”

“Some more than others,” Obi-wan glared.

“Hey, look,” Quinlan raised his hands in mock surrender. “I just wanna know how to get a Padawan, man. You’re the first one to get one out of all of us, even though I’ve been asking to have Aayla since I got knighted,”

“More like begging,” Obi-wan muttered. He remembered Aayla well, the girl was practically Quinlan’s Padawan already. He boasted about the girls accomplishments constantly and visited her as often as he could.

Quinlan shrugged. “Yeah, sure, I’m not above admitting that,”

“Well maybe if you acted more responsible then the council would trust you with a child…” Obi-wan’s words slowed to a stop as his eyes caught two young children talking on the branch of a tall tree, far from the path but close enough for him to see.

Two, very _familiar_ younglings.

Obi-wan squinted, ignoring Vos coming up beside him. It really would be a ridiculous coincidence if Anakin was the one making excited conversation to a bright Aayla Secura.

He checked again, even using his force bond. Only to see happiness and excitement at the other end, radiating just as light off of both of the children.

“Huh,” Quinlan spoke first. “Well, I’ll be damned,”

Obi-wan began to walk towards the two, not stopping until he was right underneath them. He coughed a little louder than necessary, but it got the job done well enough to bring the two out of their sectioned conversation.

“I hope I’m not interrupting something,” Obi-wan raised an eyebrow, knowing full well he was.

“Master!” Anakin said louder than needed. “I promise I can explain! I was just… we were… it’s not…”

“Anakin,” Obi-wan cut through. “You’re fine,”

“What?”

Obi-wan decided to take a little bit of pity and give Anakin an out, just this once. He didn’t need to be punished because of the cruelty of others. Especially not when he’d found someone his age group that he obviously enjoyed talking to. “While I wished you had commed me before you’d left, I am glad you were able to find some privacy with your new friend-,”

“Initiate Aayla Secura,” The girl jumped from the branch onto the ground, bowing traditionally and formally. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Knight Kenobi,”

Obi-wan smiled, nodding back towards the girl.

Anakin jumped down beside his new friend. “Right! Um! The other… initiates weren’t being that great, so I took Aayla to somewhere… quieter,”

The red on Anakin's cheeks only spread with each word.

Vos came up beside him, attention fully on the Twi’lek. “Seems you finally met Kenobi’s Padawan, Aayla.”

Secura brightened and rushed towards Quinlan for a _very_ informal hug, the two basked inside each others light before Aayla was the first to break it apart. Looking slightly annoyed. “Master! You’d promised to get me away from the initiates as soon as possible! I’m already nine, can’t I be your Padawan now?”

Vos laughed brightly. “You know as well as I do that I’m gonna have to say no,”

Aayla huffed. “But Anakin is my age and he already has a Master!”

Obi-wan sighed. “Even if Quinlan wanted to take you as his Padawan, which believe me, he does, he’d still need the approval of the council,”

Aayla crossed her arms, obviously not liking the answer, but still accepting it. “We’ve had a bond since I was two, it’s not like delaying it is going to stop it,”

“Yes, but they want you to have a childhood surrounded by friends your age,” Just like he wants his Padawan to have.

“That's stupid,” Aayla exclaimed. Then remembering who she was with and that she would probably get lectured if she didn’t fix what she said, her entire demeanor changed. “I mean, the first real friend I had was Anakin, and I only met him today! They’re just making me more miserable, if they wanted me to have a normal time then they should’ve let me be where I feel happiest, Knight Kenobi, it would be the wisest decision,”

Quinlan (curse him) was cackling at his misfortune while Anakin shook his head in agreement. “The council is making a lot of questionable decisions, maybe we should stage a revolt!”

Aayla’s eyes gleamed with mischief, but it quickly got cut off by Obi-wan.

“No,” he said instantly. Trying to stop the chaos before it spread. “You are forbidden from doing any such thing- _both of you_ ,”

“I dunno Kenobi,” Quinlan wrapped his arm around Obi-wans shoulder. “You shouldn’t try to stop it. If they’re even half as bad as we were then they’ll have stolen council seats in under an hour,”

“You were always the one who would get into stupid situations,”

“But you were the one who dared me to do them,”

“Wait!” Anakin cut in. Seemingly coming to some sort of realisation. “Aayla, are we friends now?”

Aayla, accepting the subject change readily, nodded, looking slightly hopeful.

“Oh!” Anakin went next to his new friend, excitement all over his face. “If you’re my friend does that mean you wanna come see my room. I heard people even have sleepovers, can we have one?”

Now wait just a second-.

“Yes!” Aayla nodded. “I’ve never had a sleepover before! I heard you can roast marshmallows!”

“That’s camping, young one,” Quinlan corrected gently.

“It’ll be our sleepover,” Anakin continued for his new friend. “We can roast marshmallows if _we_ want to,”

“Now hold on-,” Obi-wan stopped mid sentence 

Anakin looked at Obi-wan pleadingly. Nobody with a soul could resist that face, and anyway, this was Anakin's first friend in the entire time he’d been here. So he took in a breath, and settled for a compromise. “If you promise to complete your history homework I’ll arrange something with the master of Aayla’s Creche,”

Anakin’s smile was certainly worth the extra work he’d have to dedicate. What was even better though, was when Anakin rushed over towards the knight and hugged him, wrapping his arms around the man's legs and snuggling himself into the fabric of the robe. 

Their bond opened wider than ever to reveal Anakin pure joy, happiness and excitement, then he mumbled out the small words. “Thank you Master,”

Obi-wan panicked for all but two seconds, still not used to the boy's hugs, before he settled down and patted Anakin's head, not being able to hug back without kneeling. “You’re welcome,”

As soon as it started, it ended. His Padawan let go, tightening the bond but not closing it, still holding that solar smile directly at him, and grabbed the initiate’s hand. He started to drag her out of the room, supposedly to Obi-wan and Anakin’s dorms. Maybe for an early preparation.

He could feel Quinlan smirking at him. “Don’t start,”

“If they stay friends then we’re going to be seeing each other a _lot_ more Kenobi,”

Obi-wan couldn’t help but internally groan.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please comment if you enjoyed!


End file.
